Theories of Expertise as Models for Understanding Situation Awareness

Abstract : Situation awareness is often understood as a skill unique to piloting aircraft and controlling other real 6me processes. Research intended to better understand or to measure situation awareness, however, has proven to be difficult. An alternative approach to investigating situation awareness is proposed using theories of expertise as models. These theories provide a mechanism which explain why pilots will maintain or fail to maintain situation awareness. Further, models based on theories of expertise provide testable hypotheses regarding quantifiable aspects of situation awareness and suggest training interventions to improve situation awareness. Situation awareness is a term used by pilots and other operators of real-time process to describe the operator's, knowledge about his surroundings in light of his mission's goals, (Whitaker and Klein, 1988, p. 321). The concept is most often used to explain performance failures. A pilot who for no discernable reason does not respond to a threat such as an enemy aircraft or the ground, is said to have failed to maintain situation awareness. Cognitive psychologists have rapidly embraced the concept of situation awareness even though a workable definition is elusive (Fracker, 1988; Sarter and Woods, 1991).